London Nationals wary of upset-minded Chatham Maroons

So with Chatham knocking off the Vipers in a Game 7 Sunday, the first-place London Nationals are right to be wary of the Maroons heading into Round 2 of the playoffs.

That was the only real upset of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League Western Conference’s quarterfinals.

“When I look on paper, I don’t think it was a surprise,” London GM/coach Pat Powers said. “I think (sixth-place) Chatham underachieved this year. Their goaltender (Ryan Wagner) has been playing well in the playoffs and they’ve got a real deep forward group led by Bryce Yetman, Josh Supryka and Dane Johnstone (formerly with St. Thomas, who the Nats would have faced next if LaSalle had won).”

The Nationals have beaten Chatham 10 straight times dating back to last year’s playoffs. But the Maroons are rolling into Western Fair on Wednesday night on the high of that Game 7 road triumph and 10 victories in their last 14 contests.

“They had won six in a row before we beat them at the end of the regular season, which was a nothing game,” Powers said. “Their top guys are confidence players and if we give them that, we could be in for a short series. We need to play our game, put them on their heels and not let them get momentum, especially (in Game 1).”

London dispatched Strathroy in four games, but haven’t played since last Tuesday. That’s an eight-day break.

The Nats clinched it with a strong 6-0 road win with goaltender David Ovsjannikov recording the shutout and the club’s vaunted power play weighing in with a 6-for-11 performance.

“Going into Game 4, our power play was only operating at 11 per cent,” Powers said. “It hadn’t been good and I don’t think (6-of-11) was all legitimate because Strathroy was pushing to try to score some goals. We probably earned three of those six.”

Special teams could sway the London-Chatham series. The Nationals know they will get some opportunities. Former Sarnia Sting tough guy Noah Bushnell, now the Maroons captain, had a whopping 58 penalty minutes in the first round.

“He’ll be physical and Chatham is one of the best teams offensively in the league,” Powers said. “They like to run-and-gun and score goals. It’ll be an interesting series.”

London’s advantage is always their depth.

Brenden Trottier had 12 points against Strathroy, but the Nationals had 11 different players score against the Rockets. They also are 10 deep up front on the penalty kill, if they choose.

No one should get tired from overplaying.

“It’s nice to see and it carried over from our year,” Powers said. “We don’t want to keep marching the same guy out there again and again. If your top guy gets injured, you’re kind of screwed because guys haven’t been put in a position to be successful.

“I think that’s why you never see a London National run away with the scoring title.”

Feisty Max Vinogradov, the Nats leading goal scorer, didn’t bury any against Strathroy. But that was typical of his season stats against them. He had 14 points against Chatham, so he could again be a leading man.

“He’s a guy who scores in bunches,” Powers said. “I expect he’ll need to be able to some points on the board this series.”

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